


Reclaiming a Voice

by Ashfen



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Divergent, Erik is an edgy boy, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Multi, Raoul is a frat boy, oh God it's a romcom, they are the LGBT community Raoul is just being held hostage, wildly... WILDLY Canon divergent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29124141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashfen/pseuds/Ashfen
Summary: Erik is not one for friends. He never was, but his accident didn't help.However, meeting Christine Daaé - again - changed his life.
Relationships: Christine Daaé & Meg Giry, Christine Daaé/Erik | Phantom of the Opera, Raoul de Chagny & Erik | Phantom of the Opera
Kudos: 7





	Reclaiming a Voice

Erik didn't want to be at this party. He'd never wanted to go in the first place, and despite his making this fact abundantly clear, his roommate dragged him along anyway.  
Thus he was currently sulking in a dark corner of the room. 

A frat party. What weird concept. A disarray of eighteen to twenty year olds - essentially, all those of university age who have no business drinking - get together to drink and, well, fraternize.   
He had a feeling he was probably the oldest one there; if he'd entered college with everyone else in his graduating class, he would've been working on his Master's degree by now, so that was normally the case. 

Raoul DeChagny was a young man of almost 20 - he was very persistent about his upcoming birthday in November - and had been his dorm-mate for a year now. The two were complete opposites in terms of everything under the sun; currently the most important difference being that Raoul loved parties whereas Erik despised them.

"Oh, come on Erik! We just got here five minutes ago!" 

"And that's five minutes too long. Let me go back to the dorms."

"Do you know the main goal of guys at frat parties?" 

"To get drunk?" 

"That's a secondary goal, but good guess." Raoul outstretched his arms in a dramatic display - because of _course_ he did - before continuing.   
"It's to hook up with girls! Y'know, bring 'em back to the dorms and get freaky!" 

"And what does that have to do with me going back?" 

"Well we all know that I'm gonna succeed in bringing a girl back, so it's just gonna be _more_ uncomfortable for you if you're just sitting there with nothing to do!" 

"Disgusting. Never speak to me again."

"Yeah yeah, just get out there and talk to people."

"They won't even understand what I'm talking about."

"Do it anyway!"   
With that the younger man pulled him out from his corner of dark bidding with a large grin.   
"I believe in you!" 

Christine had originally come to this party with a friend. Key word being _had_. Meg had managed to vanish from her sight without a word in less than two minutes, and no one seemed to have seen her.   
Well, she was at a party anyway, why not explore and have fun? She spoke to a few people she knew - and a couple people that she didn't - before coming across a pair that seemed to have gathered a small crowd of other girls. One was a young guy with light brown hair ending just above his shoulders and hazel eyes to match, chatting away to the group with a ready smile. He seemed like a fuckboy at a glance.   
The other was much taller, much paler, and… honestly looked a little bit like a rat. The left side of his face was covered by a black mask, with thin white outlines of what appeared to be half of a skull. His one visible eye was a deep blue, and a shag of black hair covered his head.   
So all in all, 7/10? Would've been an 8 if he wasn't glaring. Fuckboy, mind you, was also a 7; a better haircut would've sent him up to a 9.

So she joined the group in watching them, up until Rat sighed deeply. He hadn't said a thing since she'd gotten there, and Christine would be the first to admit that she was a little excited to hear what he had to say.   
"The cancer that ravages the bodies of the weak from the inside. The sheets in the hospitals that can't wash out the death of the thousand hosts they've harnessed. The ruination of nations. The sepulchral monuments to which the bodies lay buried. The rituals of sacrifice. The cults of lives–"   
What.   
"–genocides of peoples. The dolmens of the ancient, unheard of and enigmatic lost peoples who had succumbed to life's inevitability before our time."   
She… knew all of those words individually? What was he talking about?   
"The confrontation of everything that has and will be drawn to an end. The breath of life given to dead bones--the learnings from those passed and–"   
Oh God, he was a Goth.   
"– of their impression. The silence, the cacophony, the burial, the pyramids, the temples, the sky and watered earth, the petrichor that rises from old graves. The nails and hair that grow long after the flesh has decayed. I can hear it all in this."   
She felt like a foreigner, not knowing the language yet being spoken at by a handsome native.

Upon closer inspection… he had earphones in. He wasn't talking to them. The other girls seemed to realize this as well, and they started to disperse - much to Fuckboy's dismay. 

Oops, he'd been speaking aloud.   
Raoul was giving him a peculiar look, and it was then that he noticed the crowd that had originally led him to put earphones in had vanished.  
All but one girl who was staring at him quite intensely.   
One, ahem, _incredibly beautiful_ girl. Wow. 

“What’re you listening to?”

“I- what?”

“Whatever it was you were talking about, you mentioned hearing something.”   
She continued to stare at him, now approaching at a concerningly fast pace. He stepped back.   
“I wanted to hear it too.”

“Ah. It’s... Lost Salt Blood Purges. Have you... heard of them before?”

“Nope. I’ll look them up though.”  
She was much shorter than him, barely shoulder height. Now granted, he was a very tall person, but she still felt small regardless. Almost familiar somehow.   
While these things were running rampant through his mind, she interrupted him with another question and that… peculiar stare. It didn’t feel at all threatening, but merely that she was observing him very intensely.   
“Do you have a twitter?”

Why that particular question was what broke him, he’d never quite know. It _did_ break him regardless and he simply couldn’t handle any more interaction with this girl, lovely as she was. He rummaged through his pockets before pulling out a business card and shoving it into her hand, hurrying away with Raoul trailing behind him.

“‘NYU phantom’?”

Christine was investigating the business card given to her - thrust upon her really - with a confused look, sighing softly. Well at the very least she’d gotten a name; Erik.

“Ooh, looks like you found yourself a professional.” 

She whipped around with wide eyes, smiling widely at the sight.

“Meg! Where were you this whole time?”

“Dude, what happened back there? Things were going great!”

“I’m… not quite sure, actually.” 

He and his roommate were sitting outside on a bench, and - to his horror - as pointed out by Raoul, his face was apparently a dark red. Why had the encounter shaken him like that? He’d… never felt anything like that before.

“Did… you hand her a business card?”

“I may have panicked. No one has shown interest in me like that in… a very long time.”

“Then why don’t you talk to her more? Chat this chick up and have some fun for once!”

“Good heavens no. I’d humiliate myself.”

“Seriously? All that way just for a beer?”

“What can I say? She was pretty, and all the drinks were watered down there.”

“Y- _you can tell?!_ ”

“You can’t?”

“I don’t drink that often…”

“Oh that’s right, I forgot you’re a little lightweight Christine! Since you’re so tiny and kyuuute~”   
Of course Meg was baby talking her a bit, she always did that even when they were kids.   
“But more importantly, this Erik guy; what are you gonna do about him?”

“I’m not sure. He was definitely cute, but… I dunno. He didn’t seem to wanna be bothered.”

“Based on how you described him, he just seemed like a doomer. All of them are like that.”

“A… ‘doomer’?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older sweetie.”

“You’re only older by a few months, give it a rest!”

Meg grinned, and eventually the girl relented. 

“Anyway, just talk to him! I bet you guys have a lot in common.”

“Mm… maybe.”

“More importantly though, you scared the hoes off!”

If there was one thing Erik knew, it was that Raoul de Chagny would never actually call a woman a hoe. He was above that at least. He’d come to understand that the term ‘scaring the hoes’ actually meant that he’d frightened Raoul, and that the young man was too proud to admit it. Ah, heterosexuals and their youth.

“There was a singular girl. One.”

“Yeah, because you scared away the rest of them!”

“I am so sorry I cockblocked you Raoul. Satisfied?”

“Not when you say it all deadpan like that you jackass!”


End file.
